Persephone Books discussion

Has anyone else finished this one yet? What a tragic story!
I'll start with the first question--what made Alex a failure? Was there anything that could have prevented Alex from being a failure?

I loved this story and intend to seek out more of Delafield's work. I have just finished and am still digesting but I am not yet ready to say that Alex is a (true) failure. For a woman living in her time period she is a failure simply for not marrying, she is a failure for leaving her religious Order, she is a failure for many many things. Alex is not a failure though because she has the courage to defy even when she knows it will mean disgrace. The consequences for such defiance during this time were very real yet she always selected her path. She is a hero, possibly in the same manner that we now view Edna of Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Anna Karenina.
Maybe if Alex's family had been able to be closer to Alex they may have been able to redirect her. It is because of their failure to attempt to understand her distress that she fails. This we see clearly in the epitaph where her family sits puzzled. This of course is another artifact of the time.

I agree with you, Danielle--I don't think Alex is a true failure either. I just think that she was a failure in the eyes of society--she was unable to do any of the things society expected of her.
I think the major cause for her "failure" was her parents. It seems like her siblings grew up to be fairly normal, but it was the combination of Alex's parents' treatment of her and her personality that made her what she was.
Alex's parents were harder on her than they were her other siblings, and because they were so detached from their children, she didn't have a good example of a loving or even amiable relationship. This was evident in her inability to make friends while she was at school (and during the rest of her life).
Delafield's description of Alex's ill-health made me shudder (especially her teeth)...I really felt sorry for her at the end (at the beginning, I thought she was willful and annoying).
I was surprised by the ending (although now it seems like that was the only possible ending)--and the ending was particularly operatic. This is just the kind of ending you would find in an opera!
Have you read anything else by Delafield, Danielle? I highly recommend "The Diary of a Provincial Lady"...much more humorous and less serious than this one (if you're in the mood for that).

Gina, I completely agree with you about feeling sorry for Alex near the end. Maybe even understanding her point of view. I think it takes a great writer to influence the reader's feelings in that way. At the start of the novel I also thought Alex was annoying and that her inability to get along in society was purely her own doing. But Delafield tells her story so well. Near the middle when she meets the nun I had a sudden pang of sympathy for her and kept it for the rest of the novel.
I do wonder though about the operatic ending. As with endings like that I can't help but wonder how I should really feel about it. Is it an easy fix, is it romantic, is a straight up defiance of society. Maybe it is all of those things. What do you think?
I haven't read anything else by Delafied. I've heard that The Diary of a Provincial Lady is very good so I'll be sure to add it to my TBR list.